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Army of Thieves Movie Review

Army of Thieves is a 2021 heist comedy film directed by Matthias Schweighöfer and starring him in the main role. It’s a rather silly, but solid movie that is quite fun to watch.

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“It’s not just about the money, Brad.

It’s about the quest“

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A mysterious woman recruits bank teller Dieter to assist in a heist of impossible-to-crack safes across Europe. This movie is a prequel to Snyder’s ‘Army of the Dead’. Both movies were released this year, which is interesting and a further proof that Netflix churns out content like crazy. I would actually say the two are on par in terms of the quality.

As for the storytelling, it is nothing to write home about. It is serviceable and certainly not bad. However, there is nothing new here as it is the same old heist story that we’ve seen countless times before in previous genre movies.

The flick is certainly helped, though, by a definite streak of humor in it. It focuses so heavily on the funny situations and lines of dialogue that it most certainly can be considered to be a comedy as well. And it’s my favorite part of the movie. I actually laughed a couple of times surprisingly enough and for that I give the film a lot of credit.

Matthias Schweighöfer was honestly quite forgettable in the original movie, but here he is a big star and I can now see why Zack Snyder was so enamored by him. He has a lot of potential to be a Hollywood leading guy in actioners and comedies judging by this film that represents both. In particular, his dialogue exchange and line delivery are so good and seeing for once a clumsy scaredy-cat in the lead role was refreshing.

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Others in Army of Thieves aren’t all that memorable, though Gwendoline is overall quite fun and cool. The two’s romance is well done. Technically speaking, the movie’s just okay. There is nothing here that elevates it above the streaming service’s budgetary confines. Still, the heist scenes are memorable and the movie is quite fun to watch, but I would have cut it to at least one and half hours as this story did not those damn two hours.

Army of Thieves is nothing to write home about in terms of its plot. It is also overlong and somewhat forgettable in the supporting characters. Still, this prequel is just as fun as the original Army of the Dead as it’s quite an entertaining, charming heist comedy. The standout is Schweighöfer in one very interesting, charismatic and comedic central turn.

My Rating – 3.5